There is a lack of trust in some leaders in Washington and worries that intelligence could get leaked, in the worst case to Russia — as had happened during Trump’s first term.Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

For most of the world, the US is now a malign actor – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

Laura Thornton is the senior director for democracy programs at the McCain Institute. She spent more than two decades in Asia and the former Soviet Union with the National Democratic Institute.

Earlier this month, I spoke at a conference in Bucharest for Eastern Europe’s democracy activists and leaders.

I was discussing foreign malign influence operations, particularly around elections, highlighting Russia’s hybrid war in Moldova, when a Hungarian participant pointed out that U.S. President Donald Trump had offered Hungary’s illiberal strongman Viktor Orbán a one-year reprieve for complying with U.S. sanctions for using Russian oil and gas. With Hungarian elections around the corner and this respite being a direct relief to Orbán’s economy, “Is that not election interference?” she asked.